Avodah Zarah Wigs IX

The report from the ground here in Brooklyn is that a large portion of the community has long stopped caring about the source of wigs. The unofficial pesak from R. Yisrael Belsky, who has very convincingly spoken on this subject before a number of groups of rabbanim, is that there is no problem with wigs whose hair originated in India. He, and his colleagues, have even convinced R. Elyashiv that they have the right to investigate this matter on their own and reach their own conclusions. The matter, I've been told for months, will be publicly settled shortly when an official "American" beis din convenes to rule on this matter. The only questions that remain are who will be on this beis din and where it will convene. I don't know why this is taking so long. But it is largely irrelevant because people who are going to follow that ruling are already doing so.

A few weeks ago, the weekly Halacha Berurah, emanating from R. Yisrael Belsky's students and personally reviewed by him, contained a long write-up explaining the issues and carefully refusing to rule but showing how and why one would be lenient. A reader sent it to me in PDF format and it can now be seen here.